Shards!
by calenlily
Summary: Hold-bred morality is hard to shake. One young rider struggles with the aftermath of her queen's first mating flight.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer_: If it were mine, would I be calling it fanfiction?  
_A/N_: I started rereading Dragonriders of Pern, and the plot bunnies wouldn't leave me alone. So here's my first foray into DRoP fic (and I've got a few more coming, I suspect, because the bunnies were not satisfied with this). Inspired, I suspect, by _Overreaction_ by Kinnorite and _Being Me_ by Leni. Kinda pointless, just a little situation I can easily imagine happening. Tell me what you think, please!

**Shards!**

Alia blearily opened her eyes. Looked around; found herself in a weyr not her own. _Shards! _"T'lan?" she squeaked, threw on her clothes, and promptly bolted.

_You hurt?_ Wonderful. Her distress had roused her dragon.

Alia sighed. _I'm fine, Sarieth. Just confused. Nothing for you to worry about._

More or less satisfied with that explanation, the golden dragon returned to dozing on her weyr ledge.

Technically it was Sarieth who had gotten her into this situation, but, like any rider, there was no way Alia would ever blame her. The queen had risen for her first mating flight yesterday. Which was all very well, only her rider wasn't dealing so well with the consequences.

"Hey, Alia!" Just when she thought she'd succeeded at sneaking back into her own weyr, a new voice hailed her.

"Oh, hey Karan," she replied automatically to her closest female friend. Karan was another junior queen rider, some three years older than Alia, who had been a great help showing her the ropes as she adjusted to life in the Weyr and generally a valued companion and confidante. Nevertheless, she was not a person Alia wanted to see just now.

"So, spill," Karan demanded cheerfully. "Come on, I want details! I gave you all my juicy details!"

"Karan, you're _shameless_. I didn't _want_ your details," Alia muttered.

"Never mind that," Karan said breezily. "Stop stalling." Then she noticed the younger girl's downcast expression. "Oh, not good? Who was it?" she asked sympathetically.

"Zaneth and T'lan," Alia said flatly.

Karan's brow furrowed. "But … he's nice. I thought you liked him?"

"Yeah," Alia replied. "As a _friend_. He's like a brother. I just had _sex_ with someone I consider practically my _brother_."

"Ohhh," Karan said slowly. "Right, I always forget you're Hold-bred."

Alia shot her a challenging look, like 'what does that have to do with anything?'

"Don't beat yourself up. It could be worse," Karan advised.

Alia took a deep breath, tried to consider things rationally. "Yeah, I guess – no. No, it really couldn't."

Karan raised an eyebrow. "I understand the panic, but aren't you blowing things out of proportion a bit? You could've gotten someone you don't even know, or someone who's a total player, or…. Hey, I got N'red my first time, remember?"

Alia returned the expected sympathetic grimace, but she replied, "Sure, that's definitely disappointing, embarrassing for a while, but what does it matter in the long run? Shards, Karan, I'm losing my best friend. I'm never going to be able to look him in the eye again!"

"Whoa there. Calm down, give the dramatics a rest," the older girl advised.

"But…!" Alia protested.

"No. No more of that," Karan shushed her. She took on the authoritative tone that made it clear why she was a queen rider, forcing her friend to sit down and _listen_. "Nerves are understandable. Happens to everyone. But you've gotta stop overreacting. This isn't your back-of-beyond Hold anymore. These things happen; it's just a part of Weyr life. And you'll get used to it, sooner than you think. I guarantee it."

"So you say," Alia grumbled.

"What, don't you trust me?" Karan demanded, feigning hurt.

"Sure I do. Look, I love you and all, Kar, but I'm just not sure you know what it's like to be _me_ and in this situation. We tend to handle things differently, is all," Alia explained.

"Has my advice led you wrong yet?" the older girl demanded.

"Uh … yeah, there was that one time, with the Weyrlingmaster…. And then there was…."

"Okay, fine, but does my advice _usually_ lead you wrong?"

"Well, no," Alia admitted.

"So trust me on this! You have to get used to it sooner or later, so let's try for sooner," Karan said.

"What do you propose?" Alia asked, resigned to her friend's meddling.

"You don't have to sound so glum about it," Karan laughed. Then she turned businesslike. "Step the first. Face your fear."

"Not liking this plan," Alia muttered.

"Come now, it can't be that bad. You have no basis to believe it'll be that bad. …Unless…." Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What did he say?!"

"Say? As in when I talked to him?" Alia somehow managed to be meek and sarcastic at the same time.

"You didn't…?" Karan let the sentence hang, willing her friend to contradict her. She sighed. "You bailed."

Alia nodded. "It was pretty much a case of wake up, look around, and bolt."

"Well, no wonder," Karan grumbled under her breath. "This must be remedied," she declared.

Karan caught her friend by the arm, and proceeded to pull Alia after her halfway across the Weyr. The latter girl protested all the more the closer they got to T'lan's weyr, but to no avail.

"Karan!" she protested.

"Go." Karan seized her shoulders and pushed her through the doorway. "I give you leave to go."

She stumbled, and ended up sprawled on the stone floor. A glance back proved that Karan had already deserted her. Time to face her fate.

"Uh, hi," she said.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N_: The follow-up. Because I'm a hopeless romantic. But I dunno, I'm afraid this may work out too neatly, possibly kinda cheesy. Tell me what you think. Originally I meant for this to be the end of the story (well, _originally_ I meant to write a one-shot, but then the plot-bunny decided to be demanding), but I'm considering the possibility of writing more, if people would be interested. In other words, feedback, please!  
And a quick shout-out: many thanks to H-Maude for the wonderful long review, to lyane for pointing out my rather embarrassing oversight of making the dialogue far too Terran (revision is in the works), and to the rest of the lovely people who reviewed part 1.  
_Disclaimer_: Do the words "not mine" mean anything to you?

**Shards! Part 2  
**

"Uh, hi."

The crashing noise having already alerted him, T'lan rushed over, and stopped short at the sight of the furiously blushing girl sprawled on the floor of his weyr. "Alia. Hi. Uh, are you okay?" Kicking his brain into proper functioning, he extended a hand to help her up.

"I'm fine," she said. "Karan decided to literally throw me in here," she added after a moment, grumbling.

"Ah. I guess that explains a lot," he heard himself say lamely.

"Yeah." After another uncomfortable moment, she burst out laughing. "This is pretty much the most awkward conversation ever, isn't it?"

"Pretty much, yeah," he laughed. _She's beautiful when she laughs. …Shards, no!_ He immediately chastised himself for the rogue thought. Damnit, this was _Alia_! Alia who was friend since he couldn't even remember when, and best friend since they were Searched together and became each other's only remaining pieces of home. …Alia who he suddenly couldn't stop thinking of undressed.

He looked away from her.

He latched onto the first subject he could think of, attempting to restart the conversation. "I'd ask why you ran, but I think I know already." Okay, not necessarily the _best_ subject, but it was something, right?

She looked from him to herself, with a slight chagrined smile. "I reckon so." To lighten the mood, she added teasingly, "Your ego can take it."

"You sure about that?" he teased, welcoming the levity.

"Ah, but I know you," she said.

"You sure about that?" he asked again. This time his tone was slightly husky. Same words, different question.

"What?" Her eyes showed confusion – and a hint of fear. He was an _idiot_.

He shook his head. "Nothing. Sorry."

They lapsed into awkward silence again.

"I wish we could just forget about this," she said.

_I don't_. So apparently he was an idiot _and _a masochist. "Say it never happened? Just a … mistake … made under the influence, doesn't count?"

"Under the influence? Doesn't that mean drunk?" Alia asked, smiling ever so slightly.

"That's under the influence of alcohol. This is under the influence of dragon," he explained with a smirk.

"Right," she giggled.

T'lan smiled wryly. "And if only it were that easy. Sure, we can say it doesn't count, but, honestly, it won't change anything. Not so easy to forget."

Alia pouted. "Everyone's wiser than me."

He forcibly repressed the urge to kiss the pout away. His mind was _definitely_ turning traitor on him. "Not true."

"So what do you propose we do, oh knowing one?"

"Make the best of what is," he suggested.

"How?" she asked. She was pacing.

Well, if he was determined to be an idiot, he might as well go be an idiot. "Do you trust me?" he asked.

"Of course," she said slowly, clearly confused as to the purpose of the question.

He caught hold of her hand, stopping her pacing, and stepped towards her. And he kissed her.

Alia stiffened in shock at first, but them she began to respond, turning relaxed and pliant in his arms.

"It doesn't have to be a mistake," he whispered. "We can move forward."

She was silent for a long moment. But finally she said tentatively, "I think I'd like that."


End file.
